12/19/07 - Common Council OKs $16.8M budget

(As published by Cortland Standard, Aimee Milks reporting)

The city Common Council passed a $16.8 million 2008 budget with a 7.6 percent tax rate increase Tuesday night.

The vote was 7-1, with Alderman Susan Feiszli (D-6th Ward) as the only dissenter. If the budget had not passed, the initially proposed 9.8 percent tax rate increase would have taken effect.

The 2008 tax rate is $17.61 per $1,000 of assessed property value, a 7.6 percent increase from this year’s $16.37 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

The tax levy for 2008 will be $7 million, an approximately 6 percent increase from the current $6.6 million levy.

The tax rate increase was cut down from 9.8 percent, mostly because $335,000 was allocated from the city’s health insurance reserve account instead of the usual $200,000 yearly allocation.

The city’s health insurance reserve is used to pay premiums. Mayor Tom Gallagher said each union employee puts money into the account, which varies by contract, to help pay the premiums.

“We keep enough in there to plan on increases, but this year there was more than enough to pay next year’s premiums and reduce the tax levy,” he said.

An additional 0.2 percent was cut from the tax rate after the Cortland County Legislature agreed to take over the $15,000 cost of paying election inspectors and moving the voting machines in the general election.

The council on Tuesday also discussed ways to build its reserves and pay for emergency repairs that recently developed at City Hall, and the police and the fire departments.

Along with an extensive leak in the roof that was discovered at City Hall last week, City Police Chief James Nichols also informed the council that an antenna for the communications system needs replacing. Also, the Court Street fire station has roof leaks that could jeopardize electronic equipment, including computers.

“The 2008 budget has already been impacted by things we didn’t know about,” Director of Administration and Finance Andy Damiano said.

Damiano suggested that if the county pays the $30,000 budget for the fire department’s hazardous material response unit — as the Legislature had tentatively agreed to after a series of meetings between the county and city — the council would move the money into its contingency funds to pay for these repairs. The Legislature is scheduled to make its decision at its meeting Thursday.

Councilors vote to cut $50,000 from library funding

The toughest budget decision the city Common Council made Tuesday night was to cut $50,000 from the Cortland Free Library’s budget.

“The library is being funded by a bankrupt community,” said city finance director Andy Damiano. “In what world does the poor support the rich?”

The Cortland Free Library operates with approximately $200,000 of city support annually, but also has a $2.3 million endowment that builds an interest of $50,000 to $60,000 a year.

After about an hour of discussion and with a 6-2 vote, the council agreed it could only allocate the library $150,000 for its 2008 operating budget. The city’s support of $150,000 in the 2008 budget will be down $50,000 from the library’s request of $200,000, the same amount that it received this year.

“This is very alarming for us,” said Diane Ames, president of the board of trustees at Cortland Free Library. “I don’t know what we are going to do to replace that funding … dealing with endowments is a very misunderstood thing for many people and it seems the library is being penalized for its management of its gifts.”

A large percentage of the endowment funds are restricted by donors to specific uses, such as buying books.

Many councilors were reluctant to cut the funding the library expected to have from the city because the council and library officials are uncertain what kind of effect it will have on the library’s operation.

The $50,000 will go into the contingency fund to be used for emergencies and improve the city’s bond rating.

The council agreed that if the library has financial trouble next year, the money could be reallocated to the library, if there is still money left in the contingency fund.

Originally, the city had hoped for help from the county with the annual funding it contributes to the Cortland Free Library, but meetings between the city, county and eventually library officials, convinced county officials it was not their place to step in and fund the library.

On Tuesday, the council suggested that library officials independently go to the county and city school district to ask for funding.

I put Mr. Damiano's comment in bold and italics to point out it's sheer incompetence. "In what world does the poor support the rich?" The library is public - and FREE! - to everyone.

I am sure there will be a lot of backlash and damage control after what I consider an ignorant statement. If Mr. Damiano looks out his window at City Hall from his $100,000+ paid position, I am sure he would never see limosines in the library parking lot. He would see persons who might not have access to the internet, nor who can afford subscriptions or purchase books. He would see regular people looking for resources, visiting programs and public events.

When was the last time that Mr. Damiani visited the library? Does he understand the services that the library provides to the taxpayers of Cortland? Does he understand the purpose of the endowment?

In my opinion, this was a target that had been on the radar for some time, and this year was an easy one to strike. Poor fiscal management by the Administration has led to a 25% cut in funding of a community resource. What a travesty.

Here's an analogy - This would be like cutting Mr. Damiani's salary by $25,000 and telling him to make up the difference by using his retirement benefits - a pot of money that was accumulated and managed for a specific purpose.

The Cortland Youth Bureau has a $1.7 million dollar budget - cutting $50,000 from that would have been a 3% cut. Can anyone explain where else a part of the City budget was cut so severely? I guess it's easy to reduce funding for an entity that does not have a true "department".

I'll hold my breath and see whether the City will put funding back to the original $200,000 "if the library has financial trouble next year." If the library has to use the endowment to cover the shortage, that just looks like an excuse for the City to not provide funding again next year.

Shame on you, Mr. Damiano, for that statement, and shame on the Council for passing this.

12/15/07 - CITY NEWS - City Hall roof leak highlights need for repairs

’60s-era building needs more than $1 million in work

(As published by Cortland Standard, Aimee Milks reporting)

A water leak at City Hall has illustrated the long-known need for critical maintenance of the 40-year-old building.

The leak was discovered Monday morning in the third-floor hallway, the city courtroom, the office of the city clerk and the office of Director of Administration and Finance Andy Damiano, as city officials came in for work.

“The drawer of the cash register was completely filled with water,” said Deputy City Clerk Sherrie Massmann. Massmann added that nothing was damaged and everything that did get wet was salvaged.

The leak did not affect anything electronic, such as the computers. Damiano said the leak in his office missed his computer by only two feet.

“We fixed it that night but it needs some more work and we will be getting it done,” said Mayor Tom Gallagher. “This is just one more reason why we need to do critical maintenance to this building.”

Gallagher said the building was dedicated in 1968 and not many renovations have been done since then.

“The roof has been leaking for a couple of years now. We have just been patching it,” Damiano said. “We are just trying to keep the building afloat right now.”

Repair to Monday’s leak will cost the city about $2,000, Damiano said.

The money will come from the building and grounds department’s 2007 budget, which is expected to be $297,841.

When I ran for alderman 2 years ago, one of my issues was lack of maintenance and a need to study the energy efficiency of City Hall. You could tell that the structure had been essentially untouched (and unrenovated) for the most part. A 40 year old building needs considerable maintenance and monitoring to avoid issues like this.

Hopefully the City will become more proactive in their facility assessments and roll the condition of the City buildings into the Thoma Master Plan. It always costs less if you can plan for repairs rather than being blindsided.

12/15/07 - County sales tax revenue exceeds projections

Joe McIntyre/staff photographer
Angela Kowalewski of Cortland puts fuel in her car at the Sunoco station on the corner of Church and Port Watson streets Friday afternoon. When fuel prices increase, the county receives more sales tax revenue.

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

Sales tax revenue projections for the year show Cortland County will take in more than had been budgeted for, but much of the gains will be negated when a statewide accounting glitch is fixed next year.

Deputy Treasurer Carolyn Kennedy said projections anticipate $23.4 million in sales tax revenue countywide by the end of the year.

“We’re coming in above our projection of $23.1 million,” Kennedy said Friday.
However, an accounting error in the payments disbursed by the state for the third quarter added about $300,000 to the county’s share.

“There’s going to be some adjustment made in the second quarter of 2008,” Kennedy said, adding that it would be a negative adjustment.

“I think they’re (the county) being somewhat conservative next year, knowing that it’s going to affect the level we receive.”

She said without that anomaly, sales tax revenue for 2007 would have been in-line with the budgeted amounts.

The county will not know for sure what the total receipts for the year are until the end of January, when the December figures are released by the state.

“So far for the fourth quarter, we’re up comparatively to last year, about $80,000,” Kennedy said. She said the increase is likely due to increases in fuel costs. “We collect tax on fuel, so when the fuel prices go up, we do collect a little more sales tax than we would otherwise,” Kennedy said.

County Administrator Scott Schrader said the county’s projected share of the revenue should be between $12.8 million and $12.9 million.

The county had budgeted $12.7 million for 2007, based upon 55 percent of the countywide total under a sales tax sharing plan with the city and other county municipalities.

This year was the first year of the multi-year sales tax distribution agreement that will gradually reduce the county’s share of the revenue from 56 percent in 2006 to 54 percent by 2008. From 2009 to 2012, when the contract expires, the county will receive 52 percent of the countywide total.

“I budgeted the same revenue for the county (in 2008) as I did for the previous year, but you need to remember that we’re giving up an additional 1 percent,” Schrader said Wednesday.

Schrader and Kennedy said sales tax revenues usually increase by about 1 percent each year, but this year’s projections — which include the anomaly — show a 1.35 percent increase over 2006.

For 2009, when the sales tax revenue for the county itself will drop 2 percent, thereby eating up the marginal 1 percent growth, Schrader said he would likely budget in a sales tax revenue reduction.

“Unless something dramatic happens, there’s no way that the growth in sales tax is going to offset the percentage we’re giving back,” Schrader said.

“You never know how sales tax is going to go, but if people have less and less disposable income, than it will go down,” Kennedy said. “But fuel is probably something that they have to use anyways.”

12/14/07 - County may pick up cost of city hazmat crew

Budget and Finance Committee OKs resolution to pay $26,475 for the city fire department’s hazardous materials unit.

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

The Cortland County Budget and Finance Committee agreed Thursday to pay for the $26,475 annual budget for the city fire department’s hazardous material response unit, the only one in the county. The Legislature will review and vote on the request at the Dec. 20 session.

The city has requested help from the county in attempts to keep down what had originally been a 9.8 percent tax rate increase for city property owners. That tax rate increase has since been reduced.

City Director of Administration and Finance Andy Damiano said this morning that he received revised figures from the city fire department Thursday that put the cost of the hazardous materials unit closer to $35,000.

That figure has been sent to the legislators and Damiano said the city would be asking the Legislature for the larger figure.

The increase from the original proposal is due to the department taking into account the more costly and more stringent medical examinations for the HazMat unit members, Damiano said.

Since there is no guarantee of legislative approval of the city’s request, Damiano said the HazMat costs would likely be included in the preliminary budget when the Common Council votes on its budget Dec. 18. If approved, Damiano said he would recommend allocating the money to the city’s surplus fund balance in attempt to rebuild it.

The city’s surplus reserves will be drained to nothing at the end of this year, otherwise.
Committee member Dan Tagliente (D-7th Ward) said during the Thursday morning committee meeting that the hazmat funding is a “token” contribution.

“I think that we could at least do this,” Tagliente said.

Committee member Newell Willcox (R-Homer) said he approved of the county’s footing of the bill “in the spirit of Christmas.”

The city had hoped for help with its more than $200,000 annual funding of the Cortland Free Library, but meetings between city, county and eventually library officials convinced county officials that it was not their place to step in and fund the library.

Ninety percent of the library’s patrons live in Cortland and Cortlandville, which already contribute to the $300,000 operating budget. The city’s budgeted contribution for 2008 is $200,000 while Cortlandville’s is $79,000.

12/14/07 - Legislators want more details in attorney investigation

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel Reporting)

As the county administrator moves forward with his push for a criminal investigation into the County Attorney’s Office, legislators want more details about how the office arrived at a settlement figure for a Randall Street property the county had backed out of buying.

County Administrator Scott Schrader said this morning that on Monday he would request the District Attorney to investigate the county attorney and an assistant county attorney, primarily for their role in arriving at a $17,433 settlement over the property.

“The public needs to know if this is on the up and up or not,” Schrader said after first proposing the investigation at a Budget and Finance Committee meeting Thursday morning.

The committee rejected the settlement at the meeting as well as a second $12,475 settlement for a Williams Street property.

Committee Co-chair John Troy (D-1st Ward) said he believed that if the committee had chosen to approve the settlements proposed by County Attorney Ric Van Donsel, it would have done so “too hastily.”

Van Donsel proposed the $17,433 settlement for the former owner of 6 Randall St., Steve Lissberger, and the $12,475 settlement for James and Yvonne Cole, who still own 11 Williams St. The property owners had signed contracts to sell their properties to the county last year and pursued legal action after the county backed out of the deal in January after the county scrubbed plans for a public health building in the area.

Schrader said during a committee meeting Thursday morning that the Lissberger settlement was too high, given that the actual August sale price of the property to a third party was only $500 less than what the county had agreed to pay in the contract it later reneged on.

The property was sold at the beginning of August for $72,500; the county had originally planned to purchase the property for $73,000.

“If you use the itemization in the record, it does not justify what he (Van Donsel) has asked the Legislature to do,” Schrader said.

Van Donsel and Lissberger did not return phone calls for comment Thursday or this morning.

12/10/07 - County leaders to be decided

With a slim Democratic majority in the county Legislature, it is unclear who will fill leadership positions

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

There’s plenty of wheeling and dealing left before the county Legislature picks its leadership positions for 2008-09 at the beginning of January.

The Democrats have a slim 10-9 majority, and whether they can all rally behind a single member of their party for the chairmanship will determine how the Republicans play their hand.

The organizational meeting to vote on the leadership positions — including the chairman, majority and minority leaders, clerk of the Legislature and county attorney — has been scheduled for Jan. 3.

Two Democrats, Carol Tytler (3rd Ward) and John Daniels (Cortlandville) are actively pursuing the chairmanship while a third, Sandy Price (Harford and Virgil), hopes for a leadership position as chair or majority leader.

Last week, Daniels said he had spoken with both Democratic and Republican legislators and said they had been “supportive.”

Daniels said he believes Republicans would be willing to support his bid. “I think I can work better with both parties,” than Tytler could, Daniels said. “I believe that you have to listen to all parties before you can make a decisions … I know a lot of the Republicans have ideas that they’ve brought forth, and I think that we should be looking at those.”

While Tytler chose not to respond directly, she did say she thinks she has demonstrated strong leadership skills on the ad hoc land use committee and the planning sub-committee on flooding, and that she worked within a bipartisan framework in both instances.

“I would say my hat is in the ring,” Tytler said Monday. “I have been talking with my fellow legislators, as well as the legislators that are going to be coming in.”

Her energies are focused on the chairman position, and Tytler said she has talked with both new and returning legislators about goals for the next Legislature.

The Democrats have yet to hold a caucus to discuss the leadership positions, Price said, and that will dictate her actions in the future.

No caucus dates for the Democrats have been set.

12/11/07 - County will not help fund city library

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

THAT WAS QUICK....

County officials have rejected a proposal to shift city library costs to the county as the city searches for ways to save money.

The Cortland Free Library might not be the place for the city to save some money in next year’s budget, and officials seem to be leaning toward asking the library to pay its own way a bit more this year.

However, the Common Council could always cut its funding for the year, which could force either the county or the library to make up the difference.

Library officials met with the county’s Budget and Finance Committee and city officials midday Monday and described the funding for the library and the vagaries of library charters as granted by the state.

It was concluded that a countywide library system would not likely present any significant cost-saving benefits, making county officials wary of picking up the just over $200,000 in funding that the city provides to the Cortland Free Library each year.

The library’s annual budget is about $400,000, said Diane Ames, president of the library’s Board of Trustees.

In addition to the city, the town of Cortlandville has appropriated $79,000 in its 2008 budget for library funding, and next year Truxton will provide $400 and Virgil will contribute about $1,500.

The Finger Lakes Library System is funneling $10,500 of state money to the Cortland Free Library each year, said Finger Lakes Library System Executive Director Karen Creenan.

These monies represent the total operating budget of the library for the year, at about $300,000. The operating budget pays for improvements to the facilities as well as wages, utilities and supplies.

Interest on the library endowment, donations and gifts, as well as collected fines, make up the rest of the budget. These monies are used mainly for improving the library’s catalogue, which includes purchasing books, magazines, audiobooks, and other materials, and preparing them for use.

The interest on the library’s $2.3 million endowment contributes between $65,000 and $75,000 to the budget each year.

The majority of that endowment is donor-restricted, Ames said, meaning that it can only go toward certain expenses. Most library donors specify that their donations be used to purchase books, she added. Only about 20 percent of the endowment is not donor directed.

The endowment earns as much as 10 percent interest a year and much of that interest is returned to the endowment so it is actually growing, by about $100,000 a year.

12/10/07 - Leaders give state of county, city, C’ville

Officials call for cooperation as city looks for ways to save money

(As published by Cortland Standard, Christine Laubenstein reporting)

Cortland County and the town of Cortlandville are in good financial shape, while the city faces financial difficulties, according to government officials who spoke Saturday.

The three municipalities are trying to work together to help finances in all of the municipalities, they said.

County Administrator Scott Schrader, Legislatarure Chair Marilyn Brown, Cortlandville Town Supervisor Dick Tupper and Cortland City Mayor Tom Gallagher spoke at a state of the municipalities event Saturday at the SUNY Cortland Alumni House on Tompkins Street.

It was the fourth such event hosted by the League of Women Voters in recent years. About 25 people attended the event, most of whom were league members or their spouses.

County Administrator Scott Schrader touted the 4 percent county tax reduction for next year, and emphasized the importance of the county working with the city and towns to save money.

An example, Schrader said, is the county allowing towns and villages pay into its workers’ compensation program, Schrader said. That cuts costs for municipalities and makes it less likely they’d lose protection in the case of a catastrophe.

The county has recently demonstrated interest in cooperation with municipalities by starting talks about it possibility picking up the tab for funding libraries, Gallagher pointed out later in the talk.

Currently individual municipalities fund the libraries. Schrader added the city and county are considering merging their prisoner booking and holding operations.

Cortlandville Town Supervisor Dick Tupper said like the county, Cortlandville is in good financial shape, with low taxes and high reserves.

Tupper cited a 2006 audit recently accepted by the board that shows the town added more than $700,000 to its reserves in 2006.

He said he expects the town will add even more this year, though he didn’t know the amount. At the same time the town has achieved numerous projects, he said. Those include the new Town Hall, the new park off Starr Road and the town’s new aquifer monitoring plan, which is designed to identify any pollution in the aquifer.

12/8/07 - County awards $605,500 in courthouse bids

Project’s second phase will renovate law library space on the building’s third floor

(As published by Cortland Standard, Even Geibel reporting)

The county Legislature awarded the bids for Phase II of the County Courthouse renovation project Thursday, and the total price should be about $605,000.

The Legislature also approved a supplemental space needs study for the County Office Building, not to exceed a price of $20,000.

Both measures had been passed by a joint meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee and General Services Committee preceding the special legislative session Thursday night.

The bid for general construction was awarded to Bellows Construction Specialties of Syracuse for $367,500; heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems were awarded to Petcosky and Sons of Binghamton for $112,895; and the bid for electrical was awarded to Ithacor Management of Cortland for $110,300.

The final bid for the plumbing has not been awarded to a specific firm, but rather to the “lowest bidder licensed to do business within the city of Cortland at the time work is to be performed.”
County Administrator Scott Schrader said plumbers are required to be licensed to perform work in the city and that the $8,000 lowest bidder, Daniel J. D’Amico Plumbing and Heating of Geneva, was not licensed and was not interested in becoming licensed in Cortland.

The next lowest bidder, Petcosky and Sons at $14,600, is in the process of becoming licensed in the city.

The county has $957,000 budgeted for the work, but Schrader told the legislators that only about $350,000 would fall to the county, the rest being picked up by the state Office of Court Administration.

Phase II would have to be substantially completed in March, at the end of the state’s fiscal year, in order to qualify for the state funding.

Russ Oechsle, district executive for the Sixth Judicial District Administrative Office, told the Legislature that after 10 years of discussion and five years of design work, the state was expecting these renovations to last for the expected 15 years. The last substantial renovations were completed in the 1980s and Oechsle characterized them as “extremely successful.”

“We tend to try to do long-term planning on the facilities,” Oechsle told the legislators.

12/7/07 - Consolidation talks focus on city library

County, city officials have second meeting to search for opportunities to merge services

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

City and county officials said Thursday afternoon they hope to hear from city library officials about the library’s funding structure as they search for ways to help the city out of budget troubles.

Meanwhile, city and county officials identified the next steps — such as bringing union representatives and department heads into the discussion — that could lead to the consolidation of services.

Cortland Free Library Director Kay Zaharis said Thursday night that neither she nor any members of the library’s board of directors had a chance to speak with any government officials since the city and the county first started talking about ways to relieve the city’s financial burden at a meeting Tuesday.

The library’s budget is slightly more than $200,000.

County officials stressed they would be interested in picking up the tab of other municipalities that fund local libraries but were unsure how much that would cost.

County Administrator Scott Schrader said Thursday night that any money appropriated from the 2008 county budget for the city would have to be taken out of the county’s $16 million fund balance.

Funding the library in future years would mean incorporating those monies into the regular budget. Schrader said the city library’s funding would amount to a 1 percent tax increase countywide.

The library’s board of directors has complete control over any policy decisions, Zaharis said. She speculated there could be some “charter issues” in any shift of funding and stressed that the library is an autonomous organization.

County Administrator Scott Schrader said he was interested in seeing the library’s financial statements.

The city is facing either a 7.8 or 9.8 percent tax increase.

The smaller possibility was proposed at a Tuesday night Common Council meeting by city Director of Administration and Finance Andy Damiano and would involve appropriating $335,000 from the city self-insurance fund, rather than the usual $200,000.

The city’s final opportunity to approve the $16.8 million 2008 budget is Dec. 18. The county Legislature’s last meeting of the year is on Dec. 20.

If the county picked up the city contribution to the Cortland Free Library, the city would be looking at another 3 percent being knocked off the tax rate.

12/7/07 - Committee to revise county ethics law

At center of effort will be measure to bar election commissioners from serving as party chair

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

A committee will be formed to review and revise the county’s Code of Ethics, and such revisions would likely include language barring county political party officers from simultaneously serving as county Election Commissioners.

The formation of the ad hoc committee was announced by Personal Committee Chair Larry Cornell (R-Marathon and Lapeer) at a meeting Thursday morning.

The committee would start work Tuesday and County Administrator Scott Schrader estimated the revisions could be in front of the Legislature for a vote by the end of January.

Included in that could be regulations to provide for a financial disclosure process for campaign funds, something that Personnel Committee Co-chair Mike McKee (R-Cincinnatus) said is lacking.

The new ad hoc committee consists of Schrader, McKee, Personnel Committee member John Troy (D-1st Ward) and County Auditor Dennis Whitt.

Both current Republican and Democratic election commissioners are also chairmen of the county committees of their respective political parties.

A Nov. 19 opinion by the state Attorney General’s office said legislatures have the authority to bar election commissioners from serving as party chairs as well.

The proposal to prohibit such dual office holding was first attached to a local law setting the commissioners’ salaries for the next two years that was first proposed in November and was approved Nov. 29.

However, Schrader told the Personnel Committee an attorney on retainer for the county recommended the provision be written into the county’s Code of Ethics.

The existing code was approved in 1984 and revisions were completed in late 2005, but Personnel Committee member Tom Williams (R-Homer) said elections and an incoming group of legislators at the beginning of the next year meant the revisions were lost in the shuffle and never approved.

12/7/07 - Legislature will seek final offers on DMV site

Sale and lease options both considered

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

The county Legislature decided Thursday night to seek final offers for both the sale and lease of a River Street property that could be the site of a new Department of Motor Vehicles office.

The property is in the BOCES plaza on River and Port Watson streets in the city, and the decision to lease or buy it will likely be determined at the Legislature’s Dec. 20 meeting.

The Legislature went into executive session to discuss the negotiated sales price of the preferred property identified by the Legislature’s ad hoc space needs committee.

Legislators Kay Breed (R-Cortlandville), Newell Willcox (R-Homer) and Danny Ross (R-Cortlandville) voted against discussing the prices in executive session.

A price for a runner-up site on Cleveland Street in the city had also been negotiated, but the ad hoc committee chose to focus on the BOCES plaza site at a meeting Tuesday morning.

After Thursday’s meeting was reopened to the public, the legislators voted on whether to direct County Administrator Scott Schrader to negotiate a final sale price of the property or to have him find out the cost of leasing the site.

If a site is leased, the money would have to be paid for out of the county’s general fund budget. If the Legislature decides to purchase, the funding would come from the county’s share of tobacco lawsuit settlement money.

They first voted to ask for a price to purchase the property, with Legislators Breed, Willcox, and Tom Williams (R-Homer) voting against the measure. The legislators then voted on whether to ask for the cost of leasing the site, with Legislators Don Spaulding (D-6th Ward), Dan Tagliente (D-7th Ward), John Steger (R-Preble and Scott) and Legislature Chairman Marilyn Brown voting against the measure.

Legislators John Troy (D-1st Ward), Steve Dafoe (D-Homer) and Carol Tytler (D-3rd Ward) had originally voted against asking for a lease price, but they changed their vote after Breed asked “why there is opposition to considering both prices.”

Joe Armideo of Homer owns the BOCES plaza, and any purchase or lease of the existing empty lot on River Street would involve the purchase of an adjacent residential property.

The prices have not been released for the BOCES plaza site nor a site on Cleveland and River streets that had been one of the final two sites under consideration.

But it was disclosed that the Cleveland Street site costs $115,000 more than the BOCES site at a meeting of the ad hoc committee on Tuesday.

As this issue develops, I will be sure to look at the long term costs of leasing versus purchase. This does not appear to be clear cut, and each method has its advantages.

In addition, I hope to be able to post the Ad Hoc Committee's support information for public review and comment - it has not been posted on the County web site.

12/06/07 - County spending $30,000 on stronger fix for Daisy Hollow Road

Highway department will grind strip of road, then apply hot asphalt patch to stabilize it.

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

The county will try a $30,000 semi-permanent fix on Daisy Hollow Road in Harford to alleviate some of the concerns over the deteriorating road surface.

The road is in a near constant state of disrepair because of poor underlying soil.

County Highway Committee Chair Dan Tagliente (D-7th Ward) inspected the failing section of road with Highway Superintendent Don Chambers and the two decided to pursue more significant repairs to the road than those included in the annual maintenance of the road, estimated at about $4,000.

“As you come up the hill there, if you’re going a pretty good speed, it looks like it could cause some problems,” Tagliente said during a Highway Committee meeting Tuesday morning.

Chambers said his department would grind down some of the roadway and would then apply a hot asphalt patch to stabilize the road. The drainage along the road would also be cleaned out, Tagliente said.

“It’s not permanent by any means, but it will be a more effective patch,” Chambers said.

The $30,000 funding for the work would be diverted from funds budgeted for 2008 to repair McGraw-Marathon Road. Chambers said it would be a matter of “trimming something back,” and wouldn’t have a disproportionate impact on that project.

Residents near and along Daisy Hollow Road had petitioned the county in March, seeking to get the road fixed.

A $32,200 study by the engineering firm Barton & Loguidice estimated the cost of repairing an approximately 300-foot section of the road to be between $500,000 and $600,000, not including engineering and the acquisitions of rights of way. Chambers has estimated the total cost of a permanent repair at about $800,000.

About 285 cars travel the road daily.

12/05/07 - Conflict attorney cases heard in Supreme Court

(As published by Cortland Standard, Aimee Milks reporting)

Two of the four lawsuits regarding the county’s local law concerning the assigned counsel plan were heard Tuesday morning by state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dowd.

Of the two lawsuits, Dowd is expected to make a decision on the local law or dismiss the suit entirely by the end of the year, said Frank Williams, one of the three attorneys who together filed a suit claiming the law illegal and invalid.

Williams and local attorney Edward Goehler, argued Tuesday that they need a decision as to which of three assigned counsel plans being used in the county’s courts is the right one to follow.

The three different assigned counsel plans in question within the county are the conflict attorney position created by the county’s local law of 2006, a standing decision from the County Court judges opposing the conflict attorney position and a Cortland County Bar Association plan that was used until the conflict attorney position was filled in August.

They added that they believe that the county’s Local Law No. 1 of 2006 — which is similar to plans in effect without opposition in at least 12 other counties — violates the state Constitution and state statutes.

Goehler said that before the law was passed the county had a functioning plan, which was the bar association plan approved by the state Office of Court Administration both in 1984 and again in revised form this year.

“We had a functioning plan; everything was working,” Goehler said. “To say everything is working now is not true. The law is an encroachment on state power. Cortland has no more right to pass this law than it has to lower the BAC (blood-alcohol content) levels or lower the age of consent.”

The Bar Association plan was implemented in the county in 1984 and used until attorney Tom Miller filled the conflict attorney position created by the county Legislature under Local Law No. 1 in 2006 in an attempt to cut the county’s expenses on assigned counsel for indigent defendants.

The position is called conflict attorney because it is the intent of the Legislature to have Miller represent clients the public defender cannot represent due to a conflict of interest. For example, when a husband and wife opposing each other in a custody case qualify for representation by the Public Defender’s Office, it would be a conflict of interest for the public defender to represent both of them. Under Local Law No. 1, the conflict attorney would be assigned to represent the husband or the wife.

The county, represented by Robert Bergan and Stacy Tamburrino from the Auburn law firm of Boyle & Anderson, argued Tuesday that the three local lawyers did not have standing for their case and asked for a dismissal.

Bergan said that for the lawyers to have standing to sue, they must show economic injury and show they are parties affected by the local law.

Williams responded by stating they are parties of interest because if they accept an assignment, they are violating the constitution and state statutes. Whereas, by not accepting an assignment, they are allowing other attorney’s to be in violation. This also affects indigent clients, he said.

12/05/07 - City and county discuss consolidation merger options

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

The city is hoping that a short-term solution to its depleted finances could be found in the county’s initial willingness to discuss funding the Cortland Free Library for 2008.

The possibility was discussed when city and county officials sat down in the county Legislature’s chambers Tuesday afternoon to talk about ways to help the city’s finances.

The issue will be discussed again at the next joint meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday, as well as at the Legislature’s special session that evening.

The officials from both municipalities discussed long-term and short-term solutions, ranging from a hypothetical countywide library system or a combined countywide assessor’s office, to mergers of individual departments such as the Youth Bureau or parks system.

Despite the county’s recent decision not to reopen sales tax negotiations to give the city a requested boost, the participants in the meeting were congenial and the tone was hopeful.

Legislator John Daniels (D-Cortlandville) voiced a plan of action: start with one or two projects that everybody can get on board with, things that can be implemented quickly, before a much larger next step is taken. This would build the relationships and trust that large-scale intergovernmental projects require. “It becomes much easier to take the next step,” Daniels said.

The “next step” is important, according to city Director of Administration and Finance Andy Damiano. Any short-term financial help for next year would help stamp down either a 9.8 percent or a 7.8 percent tax increase (the lower figure was announced at a Tuesday night Common Council meeting), but would not rebuild the city’s soon-to-be depleted fund balance. “We need to think about how we can rebuild it in the long term,” Damiano said.

The city is considering a number of multimillion-dollar capital projects — including larger fire and police stations and much needed repairs to City Hall — and those would require bonding.

“I cannot recommend to the (Common) Council that we go out for a bond issue with our finances in the state they are in now,” Damiano said at Tuesday’s joint meeting.

Hence the county’s concern; as noted by Legislator Sandy Price (D-Harford and Virgil), “a healthy city equals a healthy county and a healthy county equals a healthy city.”

But when discussing any possible mergers, Damiano stressed that the merger has to result in either the same or improved level of services, as well as cost savings, or else consolidation does not work.

12/05/07 - Committee picks top site for new DMV

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

A potential city site for the county Department of Motor Vehicles office next to the BOCES plaza at Port Watson and River streets received the overwhelming support of the county ad hoc space needs committee at a Tuesday morning meeting.

That site will be reviewed during a legislative work session Thursday night and will likely be the one taken before the Legislature at its Dec. 20 meeting for a final decision.

The prices for the two final sites, located in the city, were discussed in executive session and not released afterward, but committee member John Daniels (D-Cortlandville) did say the price of the BOCES plaza site was $115,000 more than the less-favored location between Cleveland and River streets across from Hampton Inn.

The committee directed the county administrator to try to negotiate lower prices for the two sites.

Although county officials had given a potential price of $400,000 for the Cleveland Street site, real estate broker Steve Terwilliger, who is handling the transaction, said last week he was unaware of any preliminary price estimate having been settled upon.

The decision whether to lease or buy the properties would be left to the full Legislature, the committee decided.

In an informal poll, the committee members — as well as other members of the Legislature who sat in on the meeting — all voiced their support of the BOCES plaza site, noting the attractiveness of the Cleveland Street site for future commercial development.

A potential location at Route 13 and Lime Hollow Road in South Cortland, which had been discarded by the committee before the sites under consideration had even been released to the public, was again discussed at Tuesday’s meeting. In the end, the committee stuck by the decision it made two weeks ago — that site will not receive further consideration.

However, the discussion of the Lime Hollow Road site did spur consideration of the city’s faltering finances and the fact that a property purchase by the county in the city would further deplete the city’s tax base.

This was apparently taken into consideration during the executive session because the meeting room door reopened on legislators who were all in favor of the commercially less-desirable BOCES plaza location.

“It’s best for the city if we go with BOCES,” Legislator Danny Ross (R-Cortlandville) said.
Ad hoc committee Chair Carol Tytler (D-3rd Ward) said the taxes on the Cleveland Street site amount to about $2,300, and that the BOCES plaza location would be even less, around $2,000.

CITY NEWS - 12/05/07 - City cuts tax rate hike to 7.8 percent

(As published by Cortland Standard, Aimee Milks reporting)

A new proposal offered Tuesday would reduce the 2008 city tax rate increase to 7.8 percent, down from nearly 10 percent.

Common Council members will vote Dec. 18 on the amended budget offered by city Director of Administration and Finance Andy Damiano.

“This has been a very trying situation for us,” said Mayor Tom Gallagher.

Damiano said the tax rate increase was reduced by 2 percent by taking out money from the city’s reserves.

“All the city employees contribute a percentage of their health insurance, which is placed into the reserves. We appropriated an extra $135,000 into the budget,” Damiano said.

Damiano added that the city always takes $200,000 of the money from the employee’s health insurance out of the reserves and puts it into the budget. However, he said this year he thought they had enough to take out $335,000, which cut the tax rate increase by 2 percent.

With the initial 9.8 percent tax rate increase the city’s 2008 budget was at $16.8 million, and would be the same with the 7.8 percent increase.

After the amended budget was presented, the council discussed further ways to cut the tax rate increase down from the new 7.8 percent figure.

“The problem is that there are so many people in the city that can’t afford a 10 percent tax increase,” said Alderwoman Val VanGorder (R-1st Ward).

Alderwoman Susan Feiszli (D-6th Ward) suggested the council turn the budget over to the department heads to cut another $60,000 to $70,000 out of each individual budget for a total of $200,000.

“I think the problem of what the council faces is not in appropriation but revenue,” Damiano said. “This council is focusing on one year. We really should have raised the taxes 20 percent and we managed to cut it to 9.8 percent by shorting the people in this room the money they need to run their departments.

“Even if we cut the raise to 2 percent, it does nothing for our financial future” Damiano added. “We can’t keep putting the burden on department heads … I am already asking them to operate with unreasonable numbers. I am basically asking them to do the impossible.”

If the Common Council does not have a majority vote to accept the amended budget with a 7.8 percent increase, then the 9.8 percent increase will automatically go into effect. However, the council can further amend the budget.

CITY NEWS - 12/05/07 - CRMC pledges to make potential property acquisitions known

Joe McIntyre/staff photographer
A woman uses the main entrance of Cortland Regional Medical Center this morning.

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

Mayor Tom Gallagher said Tuesday Cortland Regional Medical Center officials pledged last week to stay in communication about potential property acquisitions and their possible uses.

Gallagher discussed during Tuesday’s Common Council meeting the results of a meeting he and city Director of Administration and Finance Andy Damiano had with hospital officials regarding their 30-year development plan and recent property purchases, such as the Kleen Korner on the corner of Van Hoesen Street and Homer Avenue.

Gallagher, Damiano and other city officials have been involved in talks with CRMC management since the hospital’s expansion became an issue this summer.

The Kleen Korner property would be demolished and replaced with a medical office building, half of which would be taxable, Gallagher said.

“That building would probably be assessed at a lot more than the Kleen Korner was,” Gallagher said this morning, and it would probably result in a net increase in taxes.

The council was supportive of and stressed the need for open discussions with the hospital regarding future plans, as well as possibilities for reimbursement of the loss of taxable properties.

The issue of the hospital’s expansion became a major campaign issue for Common Council candidates in the late summer and fall, with many criticizing CRMC’s continued expansion.

The loss of property tax revenue for parking lots inflamed both the council and the city Planning Commission, which approved one such parking lot expansion last week.

As of August, $365,000 in assessed valuation had been lost due to the expansion of the hospital in recent years. Damiano has said that the city loses out on $4 million worth of property taxes because of the hospital’s tax-exempt status.

City officials have been clamoring for some kind of reimbursement of this lost revenue, but the law protects the hospital’s non-profit status and the city does not have the ability to compel CRMC to pay any monies to the city for essential services, such as police and fire protection. The hospital does pay for its water and sewer services, which Gallagher said are substantial.
Gallagher said this morning that the hospital owns about 41 properties in the city, about 33 of which are tax-exempt.

He said CRMC officials are “very sensitive” to the tax situation.

Hospital officials are hoping to straighten the intersection of North Main Street and West Main Street, which Gallagher said CRMC would foot the bill for.
———
Staff reporter Aimee Milks contributed to this article.

11/30/07 - Settlements lower for South Main parcels

2 property owners drop $10,000 from claims over failed public health building project

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

The settlements for two failed residential property purchases on William and Randall streets in connection with the county’s aborted public health building proposal could be about $30,000, roughly $10,000 less than the property owners had originally requested.

County Attorney Ric Van Donsel requested approval Thursday from the Legislature’s Budget and Finance Committee to settle the claims, but the committee decided to table the matter until its Dec. 13 meeting.

Settlement with a third property owner involved in the original December 2006 purchase offer for nine properties along south Main Street is still in dispute, Van Donsel said.

The former owner of 6 Randall St. has agreed to accept $17,433.40 in damages, Van Donsel said. Steve Lissberger originally requested $19,857.96 from the county.

The property was sold at the beginning of August for $72,500, according to the County Clerk’s office. The county had originally planned to purchase the property for $73,000.

James and Yvonne Cole, who still own the property at 11 William St., would accept $12,475 in damages, Van Donsel told the committee. They had originally sought $20,000 from the county, which had agreed to buy their house for $90,000.

Van Donsel said the county should not offer a settlement to the former owner of a third property at 8 Randall St. Annamaria Maniaci wants a $4,000 settlement, but Van Donsel said he did not agree with what Maniaci purported to be the costs she accumulated between the county’s backing out of the contract and the property’s sale to a third party.

The county originally agreed to pay $96,000 for the property. Maniaci sold her home for $9,000 more than the county had agreed to pay and claimed in a lawsuit that the county’s retreat from the original deal cost her $13,000 in various expenditures, seeking to make up the difference. An attorney with Maniaci’s law firm, Riehlman, Shafer & Shafer, was unavailable for comment this morning.

Budget and Finance Committee member Dan Tagliente (D-7th Ward) said he would be in favor of trying to purchase the Lissberger and Cole properties, but Van Donsel and County Administrator Scott Schrader pointed out that the Lissberger property has been sold.

11/30/07 - City’s sales tax request denied

Legislature chooses not to reopen negotiations into sales tax distribution

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

The county Legislature turned down the city’s request to reopen negotiations over the distribution of county sales tax revenue, but did decide to arrange an early December meeting with city officials to discuss long-range possibilities for saving money.

Legislators Ron Van Dee (D-5th Ward) and Dan Tagliente (D-7th Ward) were the only ones supporting a resolution that could have sped up the rate at which the city and other municipalities would have received larger shares of the total sales tax revenue.

City Director of Administration and Finance Andy Damiano brought up the sales tax agreement and the city’s difficult financial situation in a letter to the editor of the Cortland Standard that was delivered on Oct. 30. A copy of the letter was also sent to Legislature Chairman Marilyn Brown (D-8th Ward).

The city’s fund balance is effectively depleted and taxpayers are expecting a 9.8 percent tax rate increase for 2008.

In 2008, the city would be receiving 18 percent of sales tax revenue under a six-year agreement reached in 2006. The city would receive 18.2 percent in 2009, and the towns and villages would split the remaining 29.8 percent.

The county expects to take in just over $12.7 million in sales tax revenue this year, while the city expects to take in about $4 million.

Under the new agreement, the county will gradually reduce its share of the revenue from its current 56 percent to 52 percent by 2009.

In his letter, Damiano asked that the distribution be returned to its pre-2004 levels — the county had been receiving 52 percent, the city had received the 18.24 percent it would be returned to in 2009 and the other municipalities had received a combined 29.76 percent.

Van Dee said the county, had it decided to reopen negotiations, would have likely sped up the distribution schedule so the city would receive 18.2 percent next year.

Although Legislator Merwin Armstrong (R-Cuyler, Solon, Truxton) had been concerned about the other municipalities losing out on sales tax revenue if the city request had been honored, Damiano pointed out this morning that under his plan, the other towns and villages would have received a larger percentage of the total revenue than they would under the current agreement.

11/30/07 - $114M county budget approved

(As Published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

The county’s $114 million 2008 budget was approved Thursday night at a regular Legislature meeting. The budget would reduce the average county tax rate of $14.91 per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2007 to a 2008 rate of $14.31 per $1,000.

The budget calls for $2.7 million in new spending for 2008, while the overall $114 million budget represents a $6 million, or 5.2 percent, increase over the $108 million 2007 spending plan.

Despite the spending increases, the proposed budget reduces the overall tax levy by $111,000, or 0.5 percent, to $24.7 million.

The Legislature added a last minute amendment to the budget, voting unanimously to transfer $10,000 that had been budgeted for the county contingency fund to the Lime Hollow Center for Environment and Culture.

Legislator Kay Breed (R-Cortlandville) had proposed the change early on in the budget process, but the request was apparently lost in the shuffle.

The recommended contingency fund balance was $500,000, as was originally budgeted.

The county also passed an increase in the senior citizen tax exemption, increasing the base exemption income limit from $10,500 to $16,500 with an upper income limit of $22,199.99.
Residents over 65 years old who make $16,500 or less are exempt from 50 percent of the potential county property taxes. The exemption percentages reduce gradually, so that a senior making between $21,300 and $22,199.99 — the upper income limit — would be exempt from 20 percent of the potential property taxes.